


twice about you

by poalimal



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Ableism, F/M, Future Fic, Homophobia, Infidelity, M/M, Misgendering, Vague Allusions to Future Tech
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-18 14:22:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15487779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: Adam came home an hour and a half late.





	1. Chapter 1

 

Adam came home an hour and a half late.

It was normal: his hours ran long sometimes. It was raining. That was normal, too. He hung up his coat and he went up the stairs into the office and he listened to his wife tell him about her day. He looked at her, and he still loved her, and he had never lied to her before - so when she turned in her chair to ask him how he was, he looked at her straight on, no bullshit, and said:

'I slept with Justin.'

 

* * *

 

She threw him out.

'Well, yea,' said Sarah, blowing smoke out the side window. 'You really fucked that one up.'

Some part of Adam still couldn't understand. This was _Linda_. 'Everything can be fixed' Linda. 'No decision is final' Linda! And she wanted him _gone_. She could bench 350 back in college; she nearly threw him down the stairs.

'Hey, hon?' Darren's voice, from downstairs. 'Can you c'mere?'

'Shit,' Sarah hissed. 'Coming, Dare!' she said, loudly, dropping her cigarette in Adam's beer.

'Well. There go my plans for the evening,' Adam groused.

'You kidding?' Sarah yanked on one of his hoodies and doused herself in Febreze. 'If I have to suffer through the kiddie version of Whose Line Is It Anyway, so the fuck do you, _Uncle Adam_.'

 

* * *

 

Madison made one very cute rock. 'Uncle Adam, Uncle Adam,' she said, tugging on his shirt. 'Look at me!'

Adam used to feel somewhat useless around children. Then he met his niece. 'Wow!' he grunted, lifting her up above his head. Mmph. He should visit more often, probably. 3 didn't weigh as much as 8, that was for sure. 'I didn't know rocks could fly!'

'Keep flying, keep flying!' Madison shrieked, as Adam swooped her around. 'I'm never coming down!'

'Madison,' said Darren, pushing his glasses up his nose, 'please come down.' Ugh. He was such a killjoy.

Adam looked at Madison for guidance. She sighed deeply. 'Ok-ay, Dad,' she said, glum. 'I guess you can put me back down, Uncle Adam.' Adam put her back down.

'Thank you,' said Darren. 'Can you please go get your mother?'

Madison sighed even more deeply, then stomped up the stairs. 'Stomping,' said Darren, mildly.

'UGH,' said Madison, somewhere at the top of the stairs, where they couldn't see her anymore.

Darren turned to Adam with a smile on his face. 'Listen, Adam,' he said, in his fuck-you-manners voice. God, Adam couldn't stand him. 'I'm really sorry to hear about Linda. This must all be happening so fast for you, it's really unfortunate.' _Unfortunate_. Like this was some fender bender on Channel 6. 'And you are of course welcome to stay here for as long as you need, to figure things out. But I would appreciate it if you took your cues from me and Sarah when handling Madison. We want to teach her appropriate boundaries, and respect. Can you help us with that?'

'Sure,' said Adam, smiling back. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck y--ou. 'No problem.'

 

* * *

 

His phone buzzed twice right before intermission. He pulled it out of his pocket gratefully. This play made no fucking sense.

 _I cancelled my flight_.

_Can we talk?_

'Where are the bathrooms?' he hissed at Sarah. She turned to look at him suspiciously. Darren's fuck-you smile slowly started to spread across his face.

'Do I look like a Hall Monitor to you?' she said, through teeth.

'No, but you do look like the head of the friggin' PTA,' Adam said, annoyed. 'Where are the bathrooms?' Sarah gave up and told him. He climbed over an extremely disgruntled family of five, speed-walked down the hallway, burst out the main doors, and ran out into the parking lot.

Thank God Sarah was a total Stepford Mom, honestly - otherwise, she wouldn't have had to carry all these random props that didn't fit in their minivan, and she wouldn't have made Adam bring his own car. And he wouldn't have any privacy now. And he wouldn't be able to tell Justin that-- that--

'I want to see you,' he blurted, as soon as Justin picked up.

Justin didn't say anything at first. Adam felt like his heart was going to thump all the way out of his chest, waiting. Bizarrely, he felt tears gathering in his eyes. What the fuck was going on with him?

'I want to see you, too,' Justin said, finally.  'I've missed you-- a lot. Like. A lot. You have no idea.'

Adam thought of the way Justin had fallen into the kiss, like he was drowning, like he never wanted to let go. He thought he had some idea.

'But I don't think it would be a good idea,' Justin said. Wait, what? 'I never-- I didn't mean to hurt you and Linda like that. You just. You looked so happy, and I've been.' A swallowed noise. Justin's voice, rougher than before. 'You know I've been on my own for a while. And I'd forgotten, what it was like. Being around you.' Adam closed his eyes; drank in the sound of Justin's voice. 'Anyway. I just don't think meeting would be a good idea right now. I think I need some time? And then I can figure out how to just be friends with you again.'

'I was the one who kissed you,' Adam said, eyes still closed. In his mind, they were in the same room again. In the same bed. 'I don't need you to be my friend right now.'

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been reading a lot of manga lately. Can you tell? I imagined quite a lot of this going from panel-to-panel.

 

As soon as they graduated, Justin lost all sense of timing with Adam.

He'd realised he was in love with him about three minutes into the rehearsal dinner. He pretended he'd left his bullshit best man speechcards in his coat pocket and he went outside into the snow instead and choked down a panic attack. Somewhere along the way, _Wow, I can't believe I can't follow him here_ had become, _God, I wish we could be here together_.

He completely flubbed the speech, of course. Not just at rehearsal, like, the real live speech. Couldn't even look at Adam. But he laughed enough, he seemed happy enough; and the only person who would've noticed, wasn't his to hide from anymore.

Because Adam was straight. Adam was in love. Adam was somebody's husband now.

 

* * *

 

'Oh,' Justin said. 'Your hair's getting long.' Adam usually kept it pretty short. It made him look very stern, very handsome. But this was nostalgic too, in its own way. 'You want me to give you a trim?'

'Look at you,' Adam murmured, quirking up the side of his lip. 'You're practically humming. Do _you_ want to give me a trim?'

Justin thought about it practically. He hadn't had a lover with hair like Adam's in a few years. He could do a passable job, but really, Adam would probably need to go and get it done professionally. And Linda might notice, and-- honestly, it was just asking for trouble and questions where there didn't need to be any. Besides, it wasn't like Adam would remember a shitty haircut he got in a hotel bathroom from his old college buddy in a few years.

'Nah,' said Justin, smiling. He pressed his lips to the top of Adam's collarbone; took the taste of him into his mouth. 'Like this is fine.'

 

* * *

 

If it's just like this, Justin told himself, it's fine.

 

* * *

 

Justin used to think - on those early-on nights when he went home drunk and alone, when he let himself have cause to think - that if anything were to ever happen between him and Adam, he would be the one to initiate it. A chance meeting; late nights, long talks. He would be the one to kiss first, he would be the one to explain, carefully, gently, _this is how it's done_. He imagined it sometimes. Less and less, as the years went on. Not really at all, after Michael.

It turned out Adam already had an idea of how it was done. He sucked Justin off in the airport sports bar bathroom, fingered him in the Uber, then nearly broke the bed fucking him senseless in the nearest motel's honeymoon suite. Apparently he was into raggedy plane-wear. Apparently he was also into men, at least a little. Or into Justin. At least a little.

And Justin - Justin wasn't that same hopeless kid anymore, stifling his sobs outside in the snow; he had no illusions about what this was. He understood exactly what married men like Adam wanted with men like him. It didn't matter that they used to be friends.

Adam was letting him ruin his marriage. He didn't want to be Justin's friend, anymore.

 

* * *

 

Adam got dressed to drop him at the airport with a frown.

'You're going dressed like that?' he asked, shrugging on his suit jacket first, then his coat. God, he looked good.

'Rumpled as the day I was born,' Justin joked, stretching out his arms playfully.

Adam went between his arms, bent down, and hugged him tight.

Justin blinked up at the ceiling stupidly. Adam leaned back up and looked at him. Justin looked back.

They kissed.

Justin peeked open an eye to look at him. Adam was already peeking back.

'Ha ha, A-dam,' said Justin, leaning back from him, heart thumping, 'I'm gonna be late.'

'Yea, and then you'll only be three hours early instead of four,' said Adam, rolling his eyes. 'Those pants are too thin, J. You're gonna catch a cold.'

'I--' Justin glanced down, a bit confused. His lucky pants were a bit threadbare, yea, but that was what made them so warm and comfy. 'What?'

'Your _pants_ ,' Adam said, aggravated. 'You know I can see your dick, right?'

Justin's cheeks went hot. 'Oh, shit!, uhh,' he covered his crotch a bit sheepishly. 'Really?'

Adam batted his hands away impatiently. 'You don't have to hide from _me_ ,' he grumbled, grabbing Justin firmly by his cock and pushing him back against the nearest wall. Justin tipped his head back and felt the flush spread out all across his chest. He couldn't blink, couldn't breathe, couldn't lose the look on Adam's face.

'Look at you,' Adam murmured. 'I'm barely touching you,' Justin pumped his hips once, moaning weakly, 'and already you're almost ready to come.'

'Ad- adam,' Justin just kept gasping. 'Please, touch me. Please. Please.'

'I know,' Adam murmured, kissing his eyes, his cheeks, his lips. It was stupid. It was sweet. Adam did stuff like that all the time. Justin didn't know why he felt like crying all of a sudden. 'I'm right here, babe. I'm not going anywhere. Can you come for me? One more time. Don't be embarrassed, J, it's just me. One more time, let it go. Yea. Just like that, babe. Perfect.'

Justin took off his pants. Outside, it began to snow.

 

* * *

 

Maintaining a sugar fast, Justin thought glumly, was a lot to ask of someone so frequently forced to eat airport food. Leila could always tell when he cheated his diet anyway. 'It's the acne, bro,' she always said. 'Also you get, like, super strung-out over really tiny things.'

Everything in his life, he thought, must seem so tiny to her.

He was weighing a Naked Drink (53 grams of sugar!) against a croissant (hm, nutrition facts unknown) when his phone rang. He peered at the screen; didn't recognise the number. That area code, though - was Adam calling him from the office? He was such a workaholic. Justin had already texted him about his flight getting delayed. Perhaps he wanted to say I Told You So in-person? Or, at least - as close to in-person as they'd get for the next month or so. And wasn't that a depressing thought.

'Hello?' he answered. 'Adam?'

'Jesus Christ, Justin,' said the woman on the other end. Justin's heart dropped. 'Can you please do the decent thing and leave my fucking asshole of a brother alone?'

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 

For the third time in one week, Adam awoke with his arm outstretched in front of him - reaching.

He found out in fairly short order that he'd slept through his alarm and missed the last rush-hour transport. To top it all off, he got caught in the rain half a block away from his office.

And someone had drunk the last of his good tea.

He called an emergency meeting. 'Listen, guys,' he said, 'I can't go on like this. I'm begging you - please, _please_ stop drinking my tea.'

'Oh, is that all?' said Jarrod, giving a sigh of relief. Everyone turned to look at him. 'Er. Sorry, sir. The way you framed it, uh, I was just really worried!'

'Yes, Jarrod, release that worry out into the universe.' Adam waved the tea can gently through the air, inadvertently sprinkling tea dust onto the table in front of him. 'Acknowledge it. Respect it.' He paused. 'Now take it back in. Imagine that worry commingling with any stress, anxiety or residual existential dread you may have. Now imagine it forming a knot, like, right here, right in the middle of your back, where you can't even--'

'Oh-kay,' said Nora, 'meeting's over, you can go back to your desks now. Thanks, guys! Not you, Adam, we have to go over our notes for the teleconference at 3, remember? This guy. What a kidder, am I right?'

'Um,' said the new kid, no, the intern, Karen or Keith or something, while everyone else booked it. 'Excuse me, sir? I've got some tea. I-in my drawer, if you want any?'

Adam narrowed his eyes. Was this harmless brown-nosing... or something more sinister? A sign of a guilty conscience, mayhaps?

'That's a very generous offer, Keiran, thank you,' said Nora warmly. 'I actually wanted to go over a few of your most recent reports with you, just because I think you're doing some really impressive work, so why don't you just hang out in my office until we're done here? Oh, you can leave the door ajar.'

'Open?' Keiran whispered, through the world's tiniest door gap.

'A-JAR,' Adam said loudly.

Keiran pushed open the door so forcefully it banged against the wall. He yelped out an apology and ran away.

Adam and Nora listened to Keiran trip before turning back to each other. 'Was his name always Keiran?' Adam wondered.

Nora sighed and transferred the slides on her portable to the big screen. Oh, were they actually going to talk about the call at 3? Nora could lead that in her sleep. Hell, _Adam_ could lead that in his sleep, portojumble and all.

'Yes, Adam,' she said, 'their name has always been Keiran. Look, what's been going on with you? You've been acting really-- I don't want to say erratic, but please know that I am thinking it.'

Adam looked at Nora and felt an unexpected surge of guilt. She was trying to do the decent thing here, and build a team on his terms, even though almost all of his contacts preferred her, even though he was grumpy and hard to approach and almost mechanically old-fashioned. She practically ran the department because he couldn't be bothered to, she picked up everyone's slack without asking, _and_ she still managed to remember interns' names.

She did the job, he realised, that he had gotten tired of doing long ago.

'I think,' Adam said carefully, 'that I might be quitting.'

Nora laughed politely, as if he'd said something pithy and office-appropriate. Swiftly, she walked towards the door and closed it; and then she dimmed the shades.

She turned back to Adam with a grimace. 'Six months,' she rapped out.

He scoffed. Yea, right. 'Two weeks!' he said.

'One month,' she said. 'At least to help with the transition! Please. I need you on this, Adam.'

Adam closed the tea can and placed it on the conference table. He looked across the room at her, turning things over in his head.

'How long until you've been here a full year?' he asked, after a moment.

'Three months,' she said automatically. Bingo.

'Three months it is,' he said, holding out his hand to shake. She crossed the room and shook his hand firmly, still looking a bit winded. 'Pleasure doing business with you, Nora.' He winked.

Nora rolled her eyes and grinned. 'Pleasure's all mine, boss.'

 

* * *

 

The rain let up, finally. He went out for a late lunch.

His body was craving salad - he'd fed it little else for the past fifteen fucking months of his latest dead-end relationship - so he figured he'd stop by Duke's, and get back in the habit of stuffing himself full of 'earth-killing red meat'.

Something else to celebrate, he thought to himself cheerfully: never having to talk to Robbie ever again.

But Duke's was full-up. Apparently he wasn't the only one in a celebratory mood that day.

'Sorry, hon,' said Maggie, after she'd stopped giving him grief for staying away so long. 'We got a baby shower and three different graduation parties, plus there's all this rain, so we're a little tight on space today. I can put you in a booth if you want? But you'd have to share with another customer.'

Adam looked around at all the groups of loudly chattering people, and for the first time in a very long time, he didn't feel annoyed, or slighted, or spiteful. He felt like nothing could touch him - like he'd floated all the way up above the world.

'Sure.' He shrugged. 'If they're fine with it.'

Maggie checked. The customer would be leaving soon, and didn't mind sharing at all.

'He's a bit of a queer one, if you catch my drift,' she said, leading Adam to the back. Adam bit his tongue, hard. 'But nice enough, I suppose. And here we are--'

Adam glanced at the booth. The balloon popped - and the world was changed. And he didn't feel above any of it, the noise, the laughter, the puddles of rain... the small child, frightened by loud sounds and starting to cry.

'Oh!' Maggie began to fret. 'Oh, dear! You're all right, that's ok, it's just a balloon. Aw, he's a cute little thing, isn't he. I can get him some crayons, if you like. Oh, her, sorry, her. Precious, just precious. If blue's her favourite colour, I can bring out all the blue crayons she wants.'

The child kept crying. Maggie kept talking. A hundred strangers shouted and bickered and laughed.

Adam and Justin stared at each from across a booth and four years of time - and smiled.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Show me the man who doesn't secretly sabotage or resent the woman who does the job he can't be arsed to do, and I'll show you a magical pot of gold, here, right at the end of this rainbow.


End file.
